🔗 Share this article

The prestigious award in medical science was granted for transformative findings that clarify how the immune system targets harmful pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

The research identified specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells capable of harming the body.

These findings are now paving the way for innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The laureates will share a prize fund worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"Their work has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a fundamental question: In what way does the defense system protect us from countless infections while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs immune cells that search for indicators of infection, including pathogens and germs it has not met before.

Such cells employ sensors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in a vast number of variations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably creates immune cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously knew that a portion of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—where white blood cells mature.

This year's award recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to neutralize other immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

The prize committee added, "These findings have established a novel area of research and accelerated the development of innovative treatments, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, T-regs block the body from fighting the tumor, so studies are focused on reducing their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the organism is not being harmed. A similar method could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on mice that had their thymus removed, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from other mice could stop the illness—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an genetic immune disorder in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a gene critical for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading biological science specialist.

"The work is a striking example of how fundamental biological study can have broad implications for human health."